Will there ever be a good Fantastic Four adaptation?

[smulder]

@dnealy

they’re going to need a successful adaptation in either film or television

The 2006 TV series was pretty good IMO

Hard Knocks: Fantastic Four Vs. The Hulk #2

[gatto]

@PurpleVortex

But they do need a decent story that has a caring family at the heart of it.

definitely. not “gritty” or “dark”, a real character centered story. they could even get rid of the bad guys if they tried.

my fanfic theory has always been they need a power pack story centered on franklin that just happens to involve the fan4. why do the adults always have to be center stage on the super hero silver screen?

[TheMetalPedant]

I have fond memories of the '78 cartoon version. But…I was also 5 years old at the time and ate ketchup on everything, so my tastes from that era might be questionable.

[euansmith]

@CanadianBeaver

Have they tried both darker and grittier?

As dark and gritty as Benjamin J Grimm’s buttock crevice.

@lava

Because they are going to have to have some kind of backstory to explain where they’ve been all this time

“Meanwhile, in the Negative Zone…” or, “A Wizard Dr Doom did it!”

@lava

here’s another - can’t get enough of these

No wonder the Frightful Four are always able to sneak in to the Baxter Building; these cutaways are a menace to society!

[MagicFox]

There is a great Fantastic Four movie. It’s called “The Incredibles”, and it has a rocking sequel. Although Dash doesn’t burst into flames, it has all the elements of the FF, just shuffled between the main characters. They even have a mole man.

Would love to see Marvel do the original right, but until then, we also have Edna Mode. What’s not to like?

[oldstevo]

@achristocat

…and PLEASE don’t introduce Doom until number 2. Get the footing, lay the foundation and build the family and ALL of the motivations and THEN give them the Big Bad to fight…

I’d argue that they should take the opposite approach (much like they have done with the Tom Holland Spider-Man). Don’t do the origin at all, just introduce them from another universe as a going concern. The origin has been done 3 times before, so we don’t need to see it again. A 5 minute flash-back/description scene will be sufficient.

Just my 2c worth (seasonally adjusted for inflation)

[oldstevo]

As someone born in the 1960’s damned straight it’s not “close to 80 years”!!!

[phuzz]

@lava

Because they are going to have to have some kind of backstory to explain where they’ve been all this time when they predates most of the other characters.

Easy, the Multiverse.
It’s clearly how they’re going to introduce the mutants into the MCU, and it’s the perfect way to introduce whichever version of whichever characters they like. Plus if they decided to change any aspect of the characters or their backstory, they can just say “well, they’re not the 616 versions”.
So, the Four go up into space to do science stuff, wibbly-wobbly space stuff happens, and they end up in the MCU with powers. Marvel can probably fit all that into a pre-credits sequence.

[PurpleFlower]

@xkot

I say thee yea. In Feige I trust. Since 1979, my favorite comic characters have been Iron Man (the first Michelinie/JR Jr./Layton run was brilliant and underrated) and Captain America (the truncated Stern/Byrne run is still one of the best runs on that title). If those two characters can go from being comic book 3rd stringers to being the two most interesting and inspiring characters in the MCU, then there’s no reason to believe that the Fantastic Four, in the right hands, can be utterly … fantastic. I love the FF, and I am looking forward with high hopes that Marvel Studios can make them the next hot thing in the cinematic world. (Feige, if you’re listening, lean hard into the Kirby aesthetic.)

Feige should give it to Taika Waititi and let him do whatever he wants with it. Totally off the rails.

[snigs]

I would have said the same on half the characters they’ve managed to pull off, including Hawkeye, Rocket, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Dr. Strange, Batroc the Leaper, Loki…
I’m not saying they WILL do it well, but they might.

[Shuck]

I’d say the Guardians of the Galaxy are pretty goofy - but they’re mostly segregated off in their own space (that being, well, space) away from the rest of the MCU, where they can be tonally different (and justify it because… space). The MCU has taken most of its cues from the “Ultimate” versions of the characters, that tend to be more grounded and less 4-color-comics… except the Ultimate version of the FF doesn’t seem all that different to me. (And seems like it was the basis for the last movie, which was… not good.) I suspect Marvel are going to be (and have already been) spending years just to figure out how to make them work before they attempt anything.

[danimagoo]

I was just going to point this out. If Marvel can make a franchise based on a hyper violent raccoon and a talking tree very successful, I see no reason why they couldn’t make the F4 work. Honestly, there’s only been one good faith attempt to make a decent film out of this franchise. The other films were just made to retain the rights.

[3Salkow]

I didn’t think the Tim Story Fantastic Four movies were that bad. We’re living in the privilege of a post-2008 Iron Man superhero movie landscape, but if you go back to the early-to-mid-2000s there were still lots of misses out there: Daredevil, the first Hulk, Superman Returns, the ill-fated Catwoman. Among those, it’s a pretty decent offering.

You also have to think about how comparatively un-fantastic those pre-Marvel Studios movies were. Bryan Singer’s X-Men movies were pretty good, but you couldn’t really imagine Thor, let alone Rocket Racoon, showing up in the world established by those movies. It would be comparatively easy to do a great FF movie nowadays, given that space aliens, gods, magical beings, sentient robots, time travel, alternate dimensions and much more have been established as routine parts of the Marvel cinematic universe as we know it. I think the key is to set the FF up as explorers / adventurers that can hang out in any one of those worlds and feel right at home.

[clintcarlson77]

I feel like there’s so much potential in the Fantastic Four (or Future Foundation, post Johnny Flame’s demise). Honestly though, I’m just wanting to see Doom on the big screen being a total dick and ripping on nearly everyone… okay, I just want Doom in the MCU.

[timd]

Hold out for a First Family film (totally unrelated).

First Family

[anon52120741]

I keep hoping for an Astro City anthology series. It will never happen of course